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We’ve been telling you for years: Montréal is an amazing place to visit. With world-class dining, accommodations, festivals, museums and heritage sites, enhanced with four distinct seasons and sexy French charm, our city consistently ranks among the world’s best. Naming all our successes could take a while, so we’ve narrowed down the list to a cool round-up of 10 media nominations that rank Montréal among the world’s hottest travel destinations. Since we’ve come out on top in such a diverse range of categories—including some that will surprise you (check out #7!)—we know that Montréal offers something for everyone. See which features will tickle your fancy, then go ahead and book your ticket. Here are just 10 things that put Montréal in the limelight: 1. Best Winter Destinations National Geographic, December 2014 “Montréal is at its most magical blanketed in snow. Bundle up, get outside, and celebrate winter at the 16th MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE, the city’s biggest winter arts, music, and food festival. Save some energy for the final night’s Nuit Blanche à Montréal, a dusk-to-dawn party packed with more than 200 indoor and outdoor activities. Most events are free, and some are held under the stars or, if you’re lucky, the lightly falling snow.” 2. Best Music… / Read More →

With every major summer festival and event in Montréal comes the impetus for a holiday getaway in our great city. The F1 Grand Prix du Canada, MONTRÉAL COMPLÈTEMENT CiRQUE, the Jazz Festival and Osheaga, for example, are but drops in a whole bucket of fun awaiting all ages and tastes in the coming weeks and months. Blue Metropolis Montréal International Literary Festival (April 20-26) The theme at Blue Met this year is “The Power of Words,” and this large-scale celebration of reading and writing across cultures once again brings in a raft of heavy hitter authors and literary-minded figures for readings, discussions and other special events. ELEKTRA (May 13-17) ELEKTRA is a yearly digital arts festival showcasing new creations in electronic music, video, cinema, performance, design, gaming and interactive installation in combination with the innovative use of new technologies, and, in particular, those of the digital kind. Festival TransAmériques (FTA) (May 21 to June 4) The Festival TransAmériques (FTA) celebrates new works in contemporary dance and theatre. Showcasing both established and emerging artists, choreographers, writers and directors, this ninth edition of the FTA also aims to foster dialogue through a stimulating range of workshops, debates and roundtable discussions. Chromatic (May… / Read More →

[Updated on July 17, 2015] Montrealers love to celebrate anything and everything, especially food and drink. Here are the top 15 food events that you need to look out for! First Fridays (Annually from May to October) Join the fleet of Montréal food trucks every first Friday of the summer and autumn months at the Esplanade Sun Life at the Olympic Park, from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. for some awesome open air eats. Montréal Oysterfest (August 29 & 30, 2015) A weekend-long festival that brings together some of the city’s finest restaurants and bars to celebrate our all-time favourite bivalve mollusc, the oyster. Omnivore Food Festival (August 20 to 24, 2015) In collaboration with the SAT (Society for Arts and Technology), the Omnivore World Tour returns every year in the month of August to discuss and demonstrate trends and innovative techniques by world-renowned chefs. Le Burger Week (Annually in September) Initiated by the same people who bring you La Poutine Week, Le Burger Week features over 30 restaurants around Montréal that offer their tasty interpretation of the humble hamburger. MTL à TABLE (October 29 to November 8, 2015) Montréal’s own restaurant week: over 140 restaurants in the city serving specialty table d’hôte menus at… / Read More →

Winter winds may blow, but Montrealers don’t let frosty temperatures dampen their spirits: we embrace the season and celebrate it. One way we shake off the cold is with one of the world’s largest winter festivals, MONTRÉAL EN LUMIERE, from February 19 to March 1. For 11 days, visitors and locals alike can experience the pleasure of a Montréal winter through a unique program of activities that brings together performing arts, free outdoor family-friendly activities and, most importantly, gastronomy! Since 2000, over 500 world-renowned chefs have been paired with local culinary talent at the city’s finest tables to express their passion for the art of food. Here are some of the gastronomy events not to be missed. Honorary President of the festival, Pierre-André Ayer from the Michelin-starred restaurant Le Pérolles – voted western Switzerland’s chef of the year –joins host Jérôme Ferrer at Europea. He will be presenting a six-course meal of dishes that have helped build his reputation. The two Honorary President Dinners will be accompanied by some of Switzerland’s finest vintages never seen before in Montréal, hand-picked by Paolo Basso, named World’s Best Sommelier in 2013. Twice Michelin-starred chef Reto Lampart joins Riccardo Bertolino and Daniel Boulud and… / Read More →

Laurent Saulnier is arguably one of Montréal’s most powerful musical tastemakers. It’s a notion that would doubtless make the amiable and unassuming Vice-President of Programming and Production for three of the city’s largest festivals – MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE, the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal and Les FrancoFolies – erupt in a fit of his signature laughter. Saulnier began working for the festivals 15 years ago after sharpening his skills as a music connoisseur at French-language alt-weekly Voir where he was music editor. Now Saulnier applies those same discerning tastes to the selection of the hundreds of artists of all genres who perform at the festivals’ indoor and outdoor stages. He is, in short, the VP of your good time. Job: Vice-President of Programming and Production at MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE, the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal and Les FrancoFolies. What exactly do you do? “I’m responsible for all the stages and what’s on those stages, both indoors and outdoors. So it’s about choosing the artists, but it’s also about the lights, the sound and everything that’s on the stages themselves.” What’s the coolest thing about your job? “The coolest thing is being able to bring new faces, new talent, new… / Read More →

A heatwave all the way from Buenos Aires hits Montreal this week as the city’s winter festival of lights, Montréal en Lumière, welcomes jazz-tango musician Daniel Piazzolla, grandson of the “king of tango” Astor Piazzolla, and more music, dancing and food from Argentina…

It may still be winter in Montreal, but the spirit of summer festivals – especially all their free outdoor entertainment – is alive and well this week at Montréal en Lumière. The festival celebrates the creative life of the city with live music, theatrical and dance performances, all manner of art, and activities to keep everyone moving to the Montreal beat…